Getting started with QuoteCloud

Rate cards and margins, with discounts a partner approves

Keep every role's day rate and cost in one price book, price each team from it, and route any discount over your threshold for approval.

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Each consulting role is a QuoteCloud catalogue item with its day rate and cost. Teams are priced from it in every proposal, with costs and margins hidden from the client. On the Business plan an approval workflow can hold any proposal with a discount over your threshold, or above a total value, until a partner approves it.

One sample team shown two ways. On the left, what the client sees: partner, principal, senior consultant and analyst with their days and day rates, a fixed fee of $102,000 and a discount typed as 0%, then 5%, then 12%. On the right, the team view hidden from the client: cost per day by role, $52,020 for the team's time and the margin on the fee falling from 49.0% to 46.3% to 42.0%. At 12% the status changes from Ready to send to In Review, waiting for the managing partner, Graham Ellery, because the discount is over 10%.

Every role's day rate and cost, in one price book

Each role is an item in the product catalogue with its day rate, its cost per day and a category, so the margin is worked out for you. Partners pick roles from the catalogue when they price a team, instead of remembering this year's rates.

New rates for the financial year come in from a CSV with column mapping. Roles you are still testing stay in Draft, and last year's rates are marked Inactive rather than deleted. Custom user roles decide who can change prices.

  • Roles with SKU, category, day rate and cost
  • Margin calculated from price and cost, hidden from clients
  • CSV import with column mapping and validation
  • Active, Draft and Inactive statuses

Product catalogue: Essentials and up

How the product catalogue works
Products · Ashcombe rate card FY27Ashcombe Partners Sample data
  • All
  • Strategy
  • Operations
  • People & change
  • Workshops

CSV import rate-card-fy27.csv · 18 roles updated, 2 marked inactive

ProductPriceUnitCostMarginStatus
PartnerRC-PTR · Strategy $3,200 per day $1,450 55% Active
PrincipalRC-PRN · Strategy $2,400 per day $1,100 54% Active
Senior consultantRC-SNC · Operations $1,650 per day $760 54% Active
AnalystRC-ANL · Operations $1,100 per day $520 53% Active
Change leadRC-CHG · People & change $2,100 per day $980 53% Active
Leadership alignment workshopWS-EXEC · Workshops $6,500 per day $2,900 55% Active
Associate partner (new)RC-ASSOC · Strategy $2,800 per day $1,300 54% Draft
Partner (FY26 rate)RC-PTR-FY26 · Strategy $3,000 per day $1,400 53% Inactive

Cost and margin are for your team only: they never appear in the client's document

Type a discount and see what happens

Ashcombe's fee for the Wexley review is $108,500 plus tax with the workshop. Move the discount and change the firm's rule: the client's total, your margin and whether the SOW needs approval all follow.

AP-2417 · Network & margin reviewDemo · fictional data

Discount on this SOW: 12%

Your approval rules Business plan

Total value greater than$150,000

ApproverGraham Ellery, managing partner

Margin is shown to your team only. It is never an approval trigger.

What Carla Mendes sees

Fixed fee and workshop
$108,500
Discount (12%)
−$13,020.00
Tax
$9,548.00
Total inc tax
$105,028.00
First payment, 30% on signing
$31,508.40

What your partners see

Fee after discount, ex tax
$95,480.00
Cost of the team's time
$54,920
Margin
$40,560.00 · 42.5%

In ReviewDiscount greater than 10%: waits for Graham Ellery to approve before it can be sent.

Demo with fictional figures: the approval rules are the firm's own choice. QuoteCloud's approval workflow (Business plan) can trigger on discount % and total value, and also by team, role, template or customer. Margin is visible to your team only and is not an approval trigger.

What the managing partner sees, and decides

Rafael offered Wexley 12%, over the firm's 10% limit, so the SOW went In Review instead of out to the client. Graham Ellery sees the whole document, the trigger and the log, and approves or declines it. Until he approves, it cannot be sent.

Your rule does the remembering, so a discount agreed on a call still reaches a partner before the client sees it.

  • Triggers on discount % or total value
  • Rules by creator team or role, template or customer
  • Every named approver can be required
  • Approve or decline before the SOW can be sent

Approval workflow: Business plan

How the approval workflow works
Document workflow · AP-2417Ashcombe Partners Sample data

Document workflow

In Review

Triggered when Discount greater than 10%

  • Graham ElleryManaging partnerWaiting

Must be approved before it can be sent.

  1. Discount of 12% added by Rafael Ortega
  2. Approval request sent to Graham Ellery

Approval workflow · Business plan

Import your rate card in the trial

Free for 14 days, no credit card required. Bring your rate card as a CSV and your SOW, and we'll convert one template for you during the trial.

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What changes once the rate card lives in QuoteCloud

The jobs your partners and practice manager do on every proposal, before and after.

The jobTodayWith QuoteCloud
Day rates A spreadsheet on the shared drive, and last year's rates in last year's proposals. One price book: each role's day rate, cost and category, imported from CSV.
Pricing a team Typed into Word by hand, with a different rate for the same role in two proposals. Roles picked from the catalogue into the SOW's team and price table.
Margin Worked out after the project, if at all. Cost and margin beside every line for your team, hidden from the client.
Discounts Agreed on a call and discovered at invoicing. Over your limit, the SOW waits In Review for a partner (Business).
New financial year Find and replace across every template. New rates imported; old ones marked Inactive, never deleted.

How a consulting firm rolls out QuoteCloud

Set up your rate card and approval rules

Five steps for a practice manager, usually done in one afternoon of the trial.

  1. Export your rates

    Save your roles, day rates and costs as a CSV, one row per role.

  2. Import and map

    Import the CSV into the product catalogue and map each column to SKU, name, category, price and cost.

  3. Set who can edit

    Use custom user roles so only the practice manager changes prices.

  4. Add approval rules

    On the Business plan, set a discount % and a total value that send a SOW for approval, and name the approvers.

  5. Price from the catalogue

    Partners add roles to the SOW's team and price table, with cost and margin out of the client's sight.

Rate card, margin and approval questions, answered

Can I keep consultant day rates in QuoteCloud?

Yes. Add each role to the product catalogue with its SKU, category, day rate and cost per day, or import them from a CSV with column mapping. Roles can be Active, Draft or Inactive, and custom user roles control who can change prices. The product catalogue is on the Essentials plan and up.

Will my client see our costs and margins?

No. Costs and margins on price-table lines are hidden from the client and visible to your team only. Your partners can see the cost of the team's time and the margin on the fee while they price the SOW; the client sees the team, the day rates you choose to show and the fee.

Can a discount over our limit go to a partner for approval?

Yes, on the Business plan. Set an approval rule on discount percentage, total value or both, and name the approvers. A SOW that meets the rule goes In Review and cannot be sent until it is approved. Rules can also apply by creator team or role, template or customer.

Can margin trigger an approval?

No. QuoteCloud's approval triggers include discount percentage and total value, plus rules by team, role, template or customer, but not margin. Your team still sees the margin beside each line while pricing, so a partner can judge it before a discount goes for approval.

How do we update day rates for a new financial year?

Import the new rate card as a CSV into the product catalogue and map the columns. Mark last year's roles Inactive rather than deleting them, so earlier proposals keep their rates. SOWs you create from then on use the new day rates from the catalogue.

More questions from consultants

More for consulting firms

Every page of the QuoteCloud consulting microsite.

Every SOW priced from the same rate card

Free for 14 days. No credit card required.

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